User talk:Purplebackpack89

User talk: Purplebackpack89
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2014 (July-Dec)

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar may be awarded to those that show a pattern of going the extra mile to be nice, without being asked. This barnstar is awarded to Purplebackpack89, for his dedication to comprimise and his ability to work with other editors to come up with amicable solutions which satisfy everyone. Purplebackpack89, thank you for your valiant efforts in building this project. Ikip (talk) 07:48, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

		The Socratic Barnstar
		Though I doubt you're going to get anywhere in this debate due to the highly charged nature of the subject matter, your viewpoint on the issue and your line of reasoning shows you are thinker. Keep it up! And don't despair. The service of truth is the hardest service. NickCT (talk) 03:32, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

	The Barnstar of Diplomacy
	Thanks for putting forward the suggestion on ANI that we block, rather than ban, User:LiteralKa. It may or may not pass, but at the end of the day, you did the right thing by suggesting it. The Cavalry (Message me) 21:15, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

	The Special Barnstar
	For your battling abusive administrators and their sycophants. They do more destruction to Wikipedia than Joe can ever do and they know it. ...William 16:54, 29 November 2013 (UTC)

	The Barnstar of Diligence
	For all your hard work organizing and maintaining Wikipedia:Vital articles. You are an asset to the project; keep up the great work! GabeMc (talk|contribs) 19:16, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

		The Merging Barnstar
		Thanks for your recent work on multiple merge & redirects re: Yoko Tsuno. Much appreciated. GenQuest "Talk to Me" 13:25, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

L.A. events on October 7 and 16

Upcoming L.A. events: Wik-Ed Women edit-a-thon (10/7, 6-10pm) and UCR edit-a-thon (10/16, 10am-4pm)

Dear fellow Wikipedian, The Southern California Wikipedia community has two exciting events coming up in the next few weeks: a Wik-Ed Women editing session downtown designed to combat systemic bias, and a Wikipedia Loves Libraries event at UC Riverside! Wik-Ed Women is a new monthly series of informal Wikipedia editing sessions for Los Angeles women-in-the-arts (though all are welcome) to contribute their expertise to Wikipedia, specifically expanding content about women artists. This second session will take place on Tuesday, October 7 from 6pm to 10pm at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive downtown. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. The UC Riverside Wikipedia Loves Libraries event is an edit-a-thon targeting articles related to UC Riverside, SoCal, and beyond. Join students and faculty learning how to edit! This event will take place on Thursday, October 16 from 10am to 4pm at UCR's Tomás Rivera Library. Again, RSVPs are requested here. I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:47, 29 September 2014 (UTC) To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

Disambiguation link notification for September 30

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WikiCup 2014 September newsletter

In one month's time, we will know our WikiCup 2014 champion. Newcomer Godot13 (submissions) has taken a strong lead with a featured list (historical coats of arms of the U.S. states from 1876) and a raft of featured pictures. Reigning champion Cwmhiraeth (submissions) is in second place with a number of high-importance biology articles, including new FA Isopoda and new GA least weasel. Casliber (submissions), who is in his fifth WikiCup final, is in third, with featured articles Pictor and Epacris impressa.

Signups for the 2015 WikiCup are open. All Wikipedians, new and experienced, are warmly invited to sign up for the competition. Wikipedians interested in friendly competition may also like to sign up for the GA Cup, a new WikiCup-inspired competition which revolves around completing good article reviews. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 22:11, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

SoCal edit-a-thons on October 21 and 25

Upcoming SoCal edit-a-thons: UC Riverside (10/21, 10am-3pm) and Unforgetting L.A. (10/25, 9am-5pm)

Dear fellow Wikipedian, The Southern California Wikipedia community has two more events scheduled for the month of October: a water-related edit-a-thon at UC Riverside, and an Unforgetting L.A. event at the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar in conjunction with L.A. as Subject! As part of Wikipedia Loves Libraries and to celebrate Open Access Week, UC Riverside is participating alongside other Western Waters Digital Library members in an edit-a-thon focusing on water issues. Join students and faculty learning how to edit! This event will take place on Tuesday, October 21 from 10am to 3pm at UCR's Orbach Science Library (map). RSVPs are requested here. The Unforgetting L.A. edit-a-thon and training workshop will take place at the 9th annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, and is hosted by online magazine East of Borneo in partnership with L.A. as Subject. Join us on Saturday, October 25 from 9am to 5pm at the USC Doheny Memorial Library (map). Beginners welcome! Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:06, 17 October 2014 (UTC) To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

L.A. event on November 11, and a new Facebook group

Wik-Ed Women editing session (11/11, 6-10pm), and join our new Facebook group!

Dear fellow Wikipedian, The LA Wikipedia community has a new Facebook group! Become a member to keep up to date with all of our upcoming events and to connect with local Wikipedians! In addition, we have one upcoming event: the third Wik-Ed Women editing session will take place on Tuesday, November 11 from 6pm to 10pm at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive downtown. This series of informal get-togethers is designed to encourage Los Angeles women-in-the-arts (though all are welcome!) to contribute their expertise to Wikipedia, specifically expanding content about women artists. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:20, 4 November 2014 (UTC) To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

WikiCup 2014: The results

The 2014 WikiCup champion is Godot13 (submissions), who flew the flag of the Smithsonian Institution. This was Godot13's first WikiCup competition and, over the 10 months of the competition, he has produced (among other contributions) two featured lists and an incredible 292 featured pictures, including architectural photographs and scans of historical documents. Cwmhiraeth (submissions), 2012 and 2013 WikiCup champion, came in second, having written a large number of biology-related articles. Casliber (submissions), WikiCup finalist every year since 2010, finished in third.

A full list of our prize-winners follows:

• Godot13 (submissions) wins the prize for first place and the FP prize for 181 featured pictures in the final round.
• Cwmhiraeth (submissions) wins the prize for second place and the DYK prize for 65 did you knows in the final round.
• Casliber (submissions) wins the prize for third place and the FA prize for four featured articles in the final round.
• Czar (submissions) wins the prize for fourth place
• Sturmvogel 66 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• Bloom6132 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• 12george1 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• ChrisGualtieri (submissions) wins the GA prize for 27 good articles in round 2 and the review prize for 28 good article reviews in round 1.
• Caponer (submissions) wins the FL prize for three featured lists in round 2.
• Sven Manguard (submissions) wins the FPo prize his work on featured portals.
• Figureskatingfan (submissions) wins the topic prize for a nine-article featured topic in round 3.
• ThaddeusB (submissions) wins the news prize for 28 in the news articles in round 3.

Congratulations to everyone who has been successful in this year's WikiCup, whether you made it to the final rounds or not, and a particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup who have participated this year. We warmly invite all of you to sign up for next year's competition. Discussions and polls concerning potential rules changes are also open, and all are welcome to participate. The WikiCup judges will be back in touch over the coming months, and we hope to see you all in the 2014 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 22:52, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

L.A. event on November 11 CANCELED

Wik-Ed Women editing session CANCELED

Due to health issues affecting one of the organizers, the third Wik-Ed Women editing session (originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 11) has been canceled. We expect the series to pick up again sometime in December. Sorry for the inconvenience, and hope to see you in the near future! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:08, 7 November 2014 (UTC) To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

Stop your hypocracy

Your whole campaign of describing Mormon sources as "unreliable" is the extreme of incivility. It is the ultimate in irony that a hateful person like you whole hounds others has the audacity to call other people uncivil.107.0.124.70 (talk) 18:51, 15 November 2014 (UTC)

I don't think you or Stokes understand or care what a reliable independent source is. It's not acceptable to source an article about a person with information ripped from his employer's website. This applies to church officials, businessmen, or anybody else. Also, you need to understand what a personal attack is. It is acceptable in Wikipedia policy to criticize a source, but unacceptable to attack another editor. It is especially unacceptable to do what you have been doing, which is using loaded words like "hateful" and "bigoted". pbp 20:15, 15 November 2014 (UTC)

Anon IP, I was just driving by here, and must stop to say that your comment here is very much a personal attack on PBP. Do go read WP:AGF and WP:NPA. Montanabw^(talk) 05:47, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Hey PBP, ping me if you ever need a neutral third opinion on stuff like whatever set off this IP here. I've been dabbling a bit in some controversies in the Tibetan Buddhim articles (and I'm not a Buddhist) and am pretty comfortable with discussions of RS and such. (I also have worked on a lot of FACs...) Just FYI. Montanabw^(talk) 05:47, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, MontanaBW. I may do that at some point. pbp 13:52, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Copyright checks when performing AfC reviews

Hello Purplebackpack89. This message is part of a mass mailing to people who appear active in reviewing articles for creation submissions. First of all, thank you for taking part in this important work! I'm sorry this message is a form letter – it really was the only way I could think of to covey the issue economically. Of course, this also means that I have not looked to see whether the matter is applicable to you in particular.

The issue is in rather large numbers of copyright violations ("copyvios") making their way through AfC reviews without being detected (even when easy to check, and even when hallmarks of copyvios in the text that should have invited a check, were glaring). A second issue is the correct method of dealing with them when discovered.

If you don't do so already, I'd like to ask for your to help with this problem by taking on the practice of performing a copyvio check as the first step in any AfC review. The most basic method is to simply copy a unique but small portion of text from the draft body and run it through a search engine in quotation marks. Trying this from two different paragraphs is recommended. (If you have any question about whether the text was copied from the draft, rather than the other way around (a "backwards copyvio"), the Wayback Machine is very useful for sussing that out.)

If you do find a copyright violation, please do not decline the draft on that basis. Copyright violations need to be dealt with immediately as they may harm those whose content is being used and expose Wikipedia to potential legal liability. If the draft is substantially a copyvio, and there's no non-infringing version to revert to, please mark the page for speedy deletion right away using {{db-g12|url=URL of source}}. If there is an assertion of permission, please replace the draft article's content with {{subst:copyvio|url=URL of source}}.

Some of the more obvious indicia of a copyvio are use of the first person ("we/our/us..."), phrases like "this site", or apparent artifacts of content written for somewhere else ("top", "go to top", "next page", "click here", use of smartquotes, etc.); inappropriate tone of voice, such as an overly informal tone or a very slanted marketing voice with weasel words; including intellectual property symbols (™,®); and blocks of text being added all at once in a finished form with no misspellings or other errors.

I hope this message finds you well and thanks again you for your efforts in this area. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:20, 18 November 2014 (UTC).

       Sent via--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:20, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 is just around the corner...

Hello everyone, and may we wish you all a happy holiday season. As you will probably already know, the 2015 WikiCup begins in the new year; there is still time to sign up. We have a few important announcements concerning the future of the WikiCup.

• We would like to announce that Josh (J Milburn) and Ed (The ed17), who have been WikiCup judges since 2009 and 2010 respectively, are stepping down. This decision has been made for a number of reasons, but the main one is time. Both Josh and Ed have found that, over the previous year, they have been unable to devote the time necessary to the WikiCup, and it is not likely that they will be able to do this in the near future. Furthermore, new people at the helm can only help to invigorate the WikiCup and keep it dynamic. Josh and Ed will still be around, and will likely be participating in the Cup this following year as competitors, which is where both started out.
• In a similar vein, we hope you will all join us in welcoming Jason (Sturmvogel 66) and Christine (Figureskatingfan), who are joining Brian (Miyagawa) to form the 2015 WikiCup judging team. Jason is a WikiCup veteran, having won in 2010 and finishing in fifth this year. Christine has participated in two WikiCups, reaching the semi-finals in both, and is responsible for the GA Cup, which she now co-runs.
• The discussions/polls concerning the next competition's rules will be closed soon, and rules changes will be made clear on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Scoring and talk pages. While it may be impossible to please everyone, the judges will make every effort to ensure that the new rules are both fair and in the best interests of the competition, which is, first and foremost, about improving Wikipedia.

If you have any questions or concerns, the judges can be reached on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, on their talk pages, or by email. We hope you will all join us in trying to make the 2015 WikiCup the most productive and enjoyable yet. You are receiving this message because you are listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk), The ed17 (talk), Miyagawa (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Figureskatingfan (talk) 18:54, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

L.A. edit-a-thon this Sunday, December 14

L.A. meetup: December 14 edit-a-thon at the California African American Museum

Dear fellow Wikipedian, East of Borneo's "Unforgetting L.A." edit-a-thon series continues this weekend at the California African American Museum! Please join us this Sunday, December 14 from 11am to 4pm. Beginners welcome! You'll learn to create new articles that improve Wikipedia's coverage of African American art in Los Angeles, past and present. Please click here for full event details and to RSVP if you plan to attend. I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:25, 10 December 2014 (UTC) Join our Facebook group here! To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

A cheeseburger for you man!

hey man its Dfrr it looks like you have some outdated information on your Trimet routes like for example we have a 93 which has been 93-Tigard\Sherwood since 2013 and there was a 200 bus line. I am a tirmet and have been one for years but please reply back to me on my talk page thank you. and happy holidays and a happy new year man. Dfrr (talk) 05:28, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Roots (band)

The article Roots (band) has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

I couldn't establish that they meet WP:NBAND or WP:GNG

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Boleyn (talk) 10:31, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

@Boleyn:: Thanks, but I didn't create this article. I created a redirect, and @Cosprings: created this article. You might want to notify him as well. pbp 17:30, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for January 1

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Bassein. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

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Because NE2 thinks I'm a vandal

@NE2: I don't get why you're bent on removing all my comments and saying "yawn" or "stay off" to all of them. We have a shared interest in improving coverage of transportation-related topics. I just don't understand why you did what you did at Watts (Pacific Electric). Why is an explanation so much to ask? BTW, I will tell you what is too much to ask: telling me to stay off your page. I'm perfectly entitled to come here and express displeasure with your edits. While you are entitled to remove my edits without responding to them, it's generally offputting. pbp 05:48, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Copyright problems

Hello, Purplebackpack89. I've read through the conversation at User_talk:Diannaa#Watts_.28Pacific_Electric.29 and am stopping by to confirm that User:Diannaa's handling is quite the ordinary way these things are done. It is requested that users who tag articles for speedy deletion notify you that they have done so - "Users nominating a page for speedy deletion should specify which criterion/criteria the page meets, and should notify the page creator and any major contributors" per WP:CSD - but unfortunately not everyone complies with best practice.

When you start an article by copy-pasting your source and then modify it incrementally, you create a derivative work - it is still a copyright problem where the pieces retain substantial similarity. Blanking for a few sentences in a massive article might be overkill, but when the entire article is seven sentences long, it's a different situation - especially when the copied content constitutes over 50% of the article, as was the case with this content. Material in history is still a copyright problem.

I realize it is disconcerting to have an article you created disappear with no warning and am sorry that User:NE2 did not give you the recommended notice for several reasons, including that the best way to stop future copyright issues is to make sure people are aware of the policies. Just for the sake of clarity, we cannot create articles by copying content to Wikipedia and then modifying the material here. Every time we hit save, we are verifying that the content is free for our license, which means that either we must have created it ourselves or we must be able to verify that it is public domain or compatibly licensed. The only exception is for brief, clearly marked quotations that are used to supplement our created content, in accordance with WP:NFC. I understand that this article was created several years ago, and that you may not have continued with the practice used in creating that article, but I do need to be sure you are familiar with the policies. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 16:36, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

@Moonriddengirl:: This is one of the rare instances where an article I have created is a derivative work. What frustrates me is that it was deleted almost instantaneously rather than giving me time to fix it. As you said, it was only seven sentences long, so I could have easily reworded the article had I been given sufficient time. Instead, I had to completely re-create the article (which you can now read at Watts (Pacific Electric); I think you'd agree now that it's not a copyvio problem, and now it has additional content), which took me significantly more time than it would have had the article not been deleted without warning. Could you do me a favor and have a word with @NE2: about proper notification? He should have been the one to tell me the statement you just said above, but he's blanking every attempt I have to make contact with him, essentially treating me like I'm a vandal. It's especially disconcerting that NE2 is treating me this way because both he and I want to improve coverage of transportation-related articles. Also, if you are concerned about further copyvios, I would point you in the direction of other articles I've created, such as Amoco Junction, Los Angeles yesterday. pbp 16:52, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

I effectively just did have a word with User:NE2, courtesy of notification. (No need to use ping; the fact that I linked his name will do it.) I hope he will take seriously the recommendation to notify creators in policy. At one point it was mandatory with WP:CSD#G12 tags, but the importance of getting this content flagged and clean outweighs the need to educate contributors and prevent future occurrences. That said, the notices not only may prevent future occurrences, but they also serve to alert people evaluating copyright concerns down the road that they have existed in the past - which goes a long way to facilitating cleanup and addressing serial infringers. These notices are a courtesy, but more than a courtesy - they are essential to managing problems long-term.

Generally speaking, administrators will restore for you categories, infoboxes and other non-infringing content on request when pages are deleted. When content is primarily copied from another source, as in this case, you can always access the original. I have not looked at the rewrite; we have enough outstanding identified copyright problems to deal with; if User:Diannaa says it's fine, I'm sure it's fine. I see nothing in your talk page history to suggest that this has been a pattern for you, but if you believe that you may have done this before, I would strongly recommend cleaning it up now proactively and asking an administrator to delete older versions. This would certainly demonstrate your good faith in this area, if other problems exist. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 17:01, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Yeah. I thought there was a bot that notified page creators of deletion tags. --NE2 18:08, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

If there is, it didn't notify me. Either that or the page was deleted before it could. But why go full-on deletion, NE2? You could have reworded or removed the content in 2 minutes, or you could have pinged me and I'd have reworded it or removed it. pbp 19:07, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

User:Purplebackpack89, deleting the content was the right thing to do. This wasn't a borderline copyright problem; it was a blatant copyright problem. Every save page on Wikipedia says "Content that violates any copyrights will be deleted" and it has said this in some variation for at least the 7ish years I've been around. Besides which, NE2 flagged the article for admin attention; he didn't delete it. It was an admin who confirmed his judgment there. Could he have rewritten it? Sure. But we're not talking about a typo here. We're talking about a violation of our Terms of Use. Even if was done in good faith, it's a pretty bad mistake and removing it on discovery was the critical thing.

NE2, alas, such bots (if there is one now) are generally unreliable. :/ The article was deleted about three hours after you tagged it. The deletion template itself generates the code that you can place, which makes things much easier. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 19:18, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 launch newsletter

Round one of the 2015 WikiCup has begun! So far we've had around 80 signups, which close on February 5. If you have not already signed up and want to do so, then you can add your name here. There have been changes to to several of the points scores for various categories, and the addition of Peer Reviews for the first time. These will work in the same manner as Good Article Reviews, and all of the changes are summarised here.

Remember that only the top 64 scoring competitors will make it through to the second round, and one of the new changes this year is that all scores must be claimed within two weeks of an article's promotion or appearance, so don't forget to add them to your submissions pages! If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAN, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! Figureskatingfan (talk · contribs), Miyagawa (talk · contribs) and Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs)
If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the mailing list or alternatively to opt-out of all massmessage mailings, you may add Category:Opted-out of message delivery to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:51, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Units entries in Wiktionary

I'm posting this here because I guess (wildly) that you may not monitor your Wiktionary talk page. You said you were adding some of these purported units to wiktionary, and I just wanted to ask you not to take anything on trust from the Cardarelli book (in particular, though there are lots of these anecdotal collections). I just looked at one: 'tub', said to be a "unit of measure of butter or cheese". I don't believe this for a moment: what happened was that butter and cheese were sold in tubs, and somewhere, sometime, some town's ordinances said that a "tub should contain 84 pounds". Or something like that, and Wiktionary doesn't need sources (?), making it oddly even more difficult to remove unsubstantiated claims. Please have a look at my comments on the Cardarelli book; work in progress, and comments and contributions welcome. Imaginatorium (talk) 05:12, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Your input requested: revamped CFB player infobox

Hey, PBP. Happy New Year. I'd like to get your opinion on this revised infobox template for college football players: [1]. After determining what data points to include, we'll recruit a template editor to handle the coding for us. Once we determine what fields we're adding and what we're deleting, then we'll work on the modified graphics. Thanks. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 06:28, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

L.A. event on Tuesday, January 20

Wik-Ed Women editing session (1/20, 6-10pm)

Dear fellow Wikipedian, Please join us at an event this coming Tuesday: the third Wik-Ed Women editing session will take place on January 20 from 6pm to 10pm at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive downtown. This series of informal get-togethers is designed to encourage Los Angeles women-in-the-arts (though all are welcome!) to contribute their expertise to Wikipedia, specifically expanding content about women artists. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:06, 15 January 2015 (UTC) Join our Facebook group here! To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

LA edit-a-thons on February 14, 17, and 21

Redondo Loves Wikipedia (2/14), Wik-Ed Women (2/17), and Unforgetting LA at the Getty (2/21)!

Dear fellow Wikipedian, The LA Wikipedia community has three events in mid-February -- please consider attending! First, we have a Valentine's Day edit-a-thon appropriately named Redondo Loves Wikipedia, which will take place at the Redondo Beach Public Library from 10am to 1pm on Saturday, February 14. Join library staff, the Redondo Beach Historical Society, and others to help improve Wikipedia's coverage of Redondo Beach! Second, we have a Wik-Ed Women editing session on Tuesday, February 17 from 6pm to 10pm at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive downtown. This series of informal get-togethers is designed to encourage Los Angeles women-in-the-arts (though all are welcome!) to contribute their expertise to Wikipedia, specifically expanding content about women artists. Third, we have an Unforgetting LA event put on by East of Borneo in collaboration with the Getty Research Institute. Come help improve Wikipedia's coverage of LA design and architecture, and have an awesome free day at the museum -- parking will be validated for edit-a-thon participants! If you'd like to use particular books from GRI's great collection, be sure to email before 2/13 (instructions at event page). And be sure to check out our main meetup page, because we already have three SoCal events scheduled for early March! I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:58, 5 February 2015 (UTC) Join our Facebook group here! To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

Magic categories to be merged back to block structure discussion

A nomination can be found here: Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2015 February 16#Category:Magic: The Gathering blocks to merge Magic categories back to blocks from sets. Feel free to join in on the discussion. Leitmotiv (talk) 18:34, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Have you talked to User:Good Olfactory about this? I considered fighting the close myself, but I'd have opened a review discussion or talked to GO rather than starting another CfD. pbp 19:41, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

I didn't, but I just now posted a notice on his talk page. Leitmotiv (talk) 20:14, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Interview for The Signpost

This is being sent to you as a member of WikiProject Scouting

The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Scouting for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Multiple editors will have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions, so be sure to sign your answers. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Thanks, Rcsprinter₁₂₃ (spout) @ 16:51, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 March newsletter

One of several of Godot13's quality submissions during round 1

That's it, the first round is done, sign-ups are closed and we're into round 2. 64 competitors made it into this round, and are now broken into eight groups of eight. The top two of each group will go through to round 3, and then the top scoring 16 "wildcards" across all groups. Round 1 saw some interesting work on some very important articles, with the round leader Freikorp (submissions) owing most of his 622 points scored to a Featured Article on the 2001 film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within which qualified for a times-two multiplier. This is a higher score than in previous years, as Godot13 (submissions) had 500 points in 2014 at the end of round 1, and our very own judge, Sturmvogel_66 (submissions) led round 1 with 601 points in 2013.

In addition to Freikorp's work, some other important articles and pictures were improved during round one, here's a snapshot of a few of them:

• Cwmhiraeth (submissions) took Bumblebee, a level-4 vital article, to Good Article;
• AHeneen (submissions) worked-up the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 article, also to Good Article status;
• Rodw (submissions) developed an extremely timely article to Good Article, taking Magna Carta there some 800 years after it was first sealed;
• And last but not least, Godot13 (submissions) worked up a number of Featured Pictures during round 1, including the 1948 one Deutsche Mark (pictured right), receiving the maximum bonus due to the number of Wikis that the related article appears in.

You may also wish to know that The Core Contest is running through the month of March. Head there for further details - they even have actual prizes!

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Figureskatingfan (talk · contribs · email), Miyagawa (talk · contribs · email) and Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email)

Thanks for your assistance! Miyagawa (talk) on behalf of Wikipedia:WikiCup.

(Opt-out Instructions) This message was send by Jim Carter through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:55, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Los Angeles City Attorney

Just wondering why you changed the alphabetical template at the bottom of the above page to chronological and why you omitted the given names of the candidates? The template is plainly labeled "alphabetical," and the reader has no idea who these people are without the given names. I have changed it back. Thanks in advance for responding. GeorgeLouis (talk) 13:03, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

You probably shouldn't have done that. At present, the template bucks the trend of how similar templates in the category are formatted. Templates for political office nearly always follow the format I have them in, with officeholders listed chronologically. Virtually ALL templates only list people by their last names, except in cases where there are two people with the same last name. Compare Template:Attorneys General of California. The purpose of both that template and of this one is to provide easy access between officeholders, not to provide a comprehensive list. pbp 14:16, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, I certainly disagree. Kindly point out where there is WP:Consensus for this list of truncated names. Thank you. GeorgeLouis (talk) 01:33, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Dude, just look at how other templates for holders of political officer are organized. Look at how Template:Attorneys General of California is organized, and what pages it is on. Look at how Attorney General of California is written. Also, you don't seem to understand why I edited Attorneys General of California in the manner I did. I made the table sortable, which means you can click something and it changes the way the table is organized from chronological to alphabetical. If what I'm doing still doesn't make any sense to you, feel free to discuss my edits on a community noticeboard. pbp 02:14, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

I asked for a Third opinion. By the way, my name is not "Dude." I refer you to Wikipedia:Civility#Incivility. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 04:44, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

DRV

Hi PBP, Infuture If I close something and you disagree I have no issues with you either asking me to reopen it or going to DRV but if you do the latter please make sure it's a week/month old AFD instead of it being a 7 month old one - You could've simply renominated it and came to the desired outcome a week ago....., Thanks, –Davey2010^Talk 03:45, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

I considered it, and I will probably do that in the future. Heck, I'll nom that dude for deletion next week. pbp 03:48, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Haha don't blame you, Hell I'll even !vote Delete aswell and so will most of DRV by the looks of it –Davey2010^Talk 03:58, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Well, you'll get your chance right now. I yanked the DRV and nommed it. pbp 04:03, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Holy crap you don't wait about eh , Thanks for closing btw :), Happy Editing :) –Davey2010^Talk 04:34, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

ITN

I wanted to briefly write and thank you for your posts to the ITNC page. I would like to suggest that when commenting on a nomination, it greatly helps the admins assess consensus when an explanation is provided for your support(or opposition) instead of just a vote, as nomination discussions are not decided by counting votes. If you have any questions, the instructions on the ITNC page may be helpful, or you can ask on the ITNC talk page. Thanks again 331dot (talk) 10:40, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

Edit summaries

Just a friendly tip: Edit summaries are not the place to converse with other editors. They are supposed to be used to sum up the editing. i think you know that but perhaps, in the heat of controversy, you might have forgotten. GeorgeLouis (talk) 04:51, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Funny how you give me advice while you don't really listen to the things AHeneen and I say, for example, throwing the word "consensus" around, when there already is a consensus...for not doing what you want. pbp 13:58, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

LA edit-a-thons on March 18 (tomorrow!) and 28

Wadewitz memorial edit-a-thon (3/18), Redondo Loves Wikipedia (3/28)

Dear fellow Wikipedian, The LA Wikipedia community has two events in this second half of March -- please consider attending! First, there is a memorial edit-a-thon in honor of the prolific LA Wikipedian Adrianne Wadewitz, which is being held downtown on March 18 (tomorrow!) from noon to 8pm as a part of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies' annual conference. Please drop by to contribute your own work or teach other users how to write for Wikipedia. Second, there will be an event at the Redondo Beach Public Library (following up on last month's session), in collaboration with the Redondo Beach Historical Society. Please join us from 10am to noon on Saturday, March 28 at the main branch of the Redondo Beach Public Library! I hope to see you there! Calliopejen1 (talk) - via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:41, 17 March 2015 (UTC) Join our Facebook group here! To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

Change of name

Hello, Purplebackpack. I wanted you to be among the first to know that I have changed my username to User:BeenAroundAWhile. That’s because I have, well, been around a while — 83 years to be exact, on April 8.

First, I want to apologize if I have upset you with some of my recent edits. I know how it is to work hard at a Wikipedia project only to have it criticized and (perhaps) eventually shot down by other editors whom you don’t even know. Obviously I don’t mean anything personal by my edits, and I make them only because I think they will be good for the encyclopedia.

I notice you had an article deleted: Atlantic Monthly Top 100. Too bad. I had one deleted, too. I think it was called List of California public officials charged with crimes. I liked it, and worked hard on it, and it was a good article, with EVERYTHING properly cited, but others did not think so. Oh, well. You can’t win ‘em all.

But I did want to introduce myself. For a good many years I have specialized in creating or editing Wikipedia articles about Los Angeles — its neighborhoods, its history, its public servants — oh, all that stuff. I have either originated or contributed to most of the articles on Los Angeles City Council members and Los Angeles city attorneys, dating back to 1853. I’ve been able to use my L.A. Public Library card to good advantage over the Internet, even though I don’t live in L.A. any more. I’m glad you share my interest in L.A. history.

I suppose I am addicted to Wikipedia. As a former newspaper reporter and editor, and a journalism professor of a quarter century specializing in writing and editing, I can’t keep away from hammering away at a keyboard in a manic attempt to edit and to create. I have tried to take breaks, but it is an impossibility. Not only do I have my watch list of favorites, but I also hover like a vulture over the Recent Changes page and pounce on any submissions that are found wanting. Oh, well. (As I said before.)

As you know, I’ve taken a break from our discussion about improving the templates associated with Los Angeles City Attorney, but I plan to return to it after my week is up. I hope that our chats over there will be friendly.

Sincerely, BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 18:59, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Glad to know who you are. Apology accepted. pbp 00:40, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Color graphics for Infobox college football player

3-pixel accent with white text

USC Trojans

PBP, here's a taste of how the revamped infobox is going: Template:Infobox college football player/testcases#Joe Cool (typical example). What do you think of the colors, graphics, and layout and design -- and the "college varsity stripe" graphics in particular? Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 19:56, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Happy Easter!

All the best! "Carry me down, carry me down; carry me down into the wiki!" (talk) 04:34, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Presidential birthplaces

I added a link at the end of the article that list all presidential birthplaces. Damn that Andy Jackson and his unknown state of birth. Czolgolz (talk) 04:51, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. pbp 15:17, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Criticism of the Boy Scouts of America listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Criticism of the Boy Scouts of America. Since you had some involvement with the Criticism of the Boy Scouts of America redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. JZCL 16:08, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Resurrection of Southern California Task Force

After moving from Los Angeles County to Kern County to San Luis Obispo County, I am finally realizing that there is life in California outside of L.A. and San Francisco, where I lived and grew up. Oh, I have also lived in San Diego, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Yolo and Sacramento counties, and I earned my undergraduate degree in Riverside County. I am trying to breathe life into the Southern California Task Force, and I hope you will join me. Could you visit our list of participants at the other end of this link and update your description of what you are interested in doing for us, assuming that you still want to be in the mix, that is.

In recompense, I will buy you a drink during the Wikipedia Welcome Week I am planning for Morro Bay on the Central Coast in July. Yours sincerely, BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 18:46, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 May newsletter

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered on 17 August 2014 by Terry Lovejoy; and is one of several Featured Pictures worked up by The Herald (submissions) during the second round.

The second round one has all wrapped up, and round three has now begun! Congratulations to the 34 contestants who have made it through, but well done and thank you to all contestants who took part in our second round. Leading the way overall was Cas Liber (submissions) in Group B with a total of 777 points for a variety of contributions including Good Articles on Corona Borealis and Microscopium - both of which received the maximum bonus.

Special credit must be given to a number of high importance articles improved during the second round.

• Coemgenus (submissions) was one of several users who worked on improving Ulysses S. Grant. Remember, you do not need to work on an article on your own - as long as each person has completed significant work on the article during 2015, multiple competitors can claim the same article.
• Cwmhiraeth (submissions) took Dragonfly to Good Article for a 3x bonus - and if that wasn't enough, they also took Damselfly there as well for a 2x bonus.
• LeftAire (submissions) worked up Alexander Hamilton to Good Article for the maximum bonus. Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of the United States and is a level 4 vital article.

The points varied across groups, with the lowest score required to gain automatic qualification was 68 in Group A - meanwhile the second place score in Group H was 404, which would have been high enough to win all but one of the other Groups! As well as the top two of each group automatically going through to the third round, a minimum score of 55 was required for a wildcard competitor to go through. We had a three-way tie at 55 points and all three have qualified for the next round, in the spirit of fairness. The third round ends on June 28, with the top two in each group progressing automatically while the remaining 16 highest scorers across all four groups go through as wildcards. Good luck to all competitors for the third round! Figureskatingfan (talk · contribs · email), Miyagawa (talk · contribs · email) and Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email) 16:41, 4 May 2015 (UTC)